edt wrote:Don't confuse the poor guy. the way apparent wind works is the faster you go the more upwind the wind points. so the slower you go the higher upwind you can point. in kite boarding we fall off a plane when we go too slow so if you want to pint upwind really far you can body drag. but pointing upwind isn't the whole story. suppose you want to go someplace upwind of you and if you body drag you can make it in one track but if you use the board it will take several tacks because you can't point as far upwind still way faster on the board because even if the upwind angle is less you are going way faster and make a lot more progress upwind.

there is some optimal speed that will take you upwind fastest go too fast and apparent wind decreases your angle but if you slow down too much for better upwind angle you don't make progress

I was talking about light wind riding. Yes I suppose there is a balancing act for sure.